The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 38 The war is coming
The vanguard army left a total of five soldiers on the two artillery batteries of the Beiyang Military Academy. In order to convey the situation in a timely manner, they even set up a telephone on the artillery battery near the west gate.

The newly formed artillery regiment also sent a two-man artillery observation post, ready to provide firing elements to the artillery regiment behind when necessary.

There were originally four German-made Gruson 57mm rapid-fire guns on these two artillery batteries. This type of rapid-fire gun has a relatively straight trajectory and, if fired from the battery, can cause huge damage to the ships crossing the river.

However, Teng Yuzao had an agreement with Colonel Lehman, and Teng Yuzao could not bear to let this military school, which carried the foundation for the prosperity of the country's new army, be destroyed.

Moreover, the two forts had extremely poor defensive capabilities. Not only were they too obvious targets, they were also too close to the British Concession on the opposite bank, separated only by the narrow Baihe River. If the Allied forces deployed the Gruson rapid-fire guns on the opposite bank, they could also easily attack the two forts.

These two earthen artillery batteries could not withstand a few shells. Even artillery with a caliber of 50 to 60 mm was not something these two earthen artillery batteries could withstand.

In Teng Yuzhao's opinion, building these two forts was completely unnecessary, and their symbolic significance far outweighed their actual existence.

Although the Beiyang Military Academy and the British Concession opposite were far apart, the Baihe River separating them was actually not wide, only about a hundred meters wide. It was just that the river beach near the north bank, that is, on the side of the Beiyang Military Academy, was wider, with the river beach alone being more than two hundred meters long.

Therefore, the artillery on the fort had been towed away by Teng Yuzhao during the day, and they should have now followed Li Yulin's camp office to Xigu.

Standing on the gun platform and looking at the British Concession on the opposite bank, a large area there was also dark, with only a few small patches of lights. However, near the river bank, especially near the Zizhulin Wharf, there were more lights. From the brightness of the lights, it could be judged that they were all emitted by some dim wind lanterns.

However, in a small area in the hinterland of the concession, there were bright lights. Teng Yuzhao knew that the brightest place was on London Road, the most prosperous street in the British Concession. There were the Belgian Shichang Trading Company and the nearby Dutch Consulate, as well as the Shichang Trading Company's fur processing factory near the company.

Shichang Trading Company installed a small generator in its fur processing factory. In addition to supplying power to the fur processing factory and Shichang Trading Company, the remaining electricity was also supplied to the Dutch Consulate.

These three places in the British Concession in Tianjin that used electricity were the first to use electricity not only in Tianjin, but also in the entire north of the Yangtze River. They were even the earliest places in the country, except for Shanghai and Guangzhou, to use electric lighting and machine processing. Even now, in the capital, including the Forbidden City, candles and oil lamps are still used for lighting.

It was still dark, and although the telescope could not clearly see anything in the concession, and even the situation on the closer Zizhulin Wharf could not be seen clearly, the situation on the Baihe River could still be seen clearly with the help of moonlight. Any ship passing by on the nearby river could not escape the surveillance of the two observation points on the fort.

The first regiment and two platoons of the second regiment, totaling more than 300 people, worked hard until about three in the morning, and finally completed an arc-shaped simple defensive fortification surrounding half of the woods.

As it was arranged in advance, as soon as the fortifications were completed, the canteen of the vanguard army sent several large buckets of hot broth and baskets of braised meat and steamed buns. Although the large pieces of braised meat and boiling broth smelled delicious, the officers and soldiers were already starving and exhausted. They had no intention of feasting. They ate this meal, which was not clear whether it was a midnight snack or breakfast, and were asked to stay in the trenches or the Maxim heavy machine gun fort to rest.

As soon as they received the order, except for the personnel on duty who had to persist for a while, the officers and soldiers who were tired after a day's work sat down and fell asleep almost instantly leaning against the damp trench wall.

Teng Yuzhao did not return to his tent in the woods. Instead, he stayed in the largest Maxim heavy machine gun fortress in the center of the defense line with a firm attitude, despite Liu Yuzhi's repeated objections.

Teng Yuzhao's reason was that he would be safer staying in this sturdy Maxim heavy machine gun fortress.

Teng Yuzhao stayed in the heavy machine gun bunker, and Wei Jinghai and several other staff officers and the guard squad naturally had to follow Teng Yuzhao, so they also entered the machine gun bunker together.

Due to the large number of people, Liu Yuzhi had to take his men to another machine gun bunker nearby, ready to command the battle there.

Since the several Maxim heavy machine gun bunkers were built in places with slightly higher terrain, the view from the four lookouts of the machine gun bunkers, which were about one meter above the ground, was extremely broad, and one could have a panoramic view from the bank of the Baihe River to the entire defensive position. This made Teng Yuzhao very satisfied, as he could understand and grasp the entire battlefield situation at any time here. This was also the reason why he insisted on staying here to command despite dissuasion.

This battle is extremely important for the Vanguard Army. Teng Yuzhao believes that this is the Vanguard Army's first battle in the true sense, and a high-intensity battlefield that can test and train the troops. Compared with the upcoming battle, the battle in "Beiyang Military Academy" that Yu Lu called a great victory can only be regarded as an appetizer.

He was not confident in leaving such an important battle to Liu Yuzhi to command, and Teng Yuzhao also wanted to see and experience with his own eyes the combat methods of Western armies of that era and gain valuable intuitive understanding, which would be of great significance for his subsequent command of the vanguard army to fight against the coalition forces.

The guards set up a camp bed for Teng Yuzhao in a corner of the heavy machine gun bunker. Teng Yuzhao had no choice but to lie down on it with his clothes on to rest.

Seeing Wei Jinghai commanding two guard squads to carefully place a box in the corner of the machine gun bunker, Teng Yuzao knew that this was also a good thing obtained from Lihe Foreign Company. It was a German Zeiss box camera.

This camera was not a gift from little Christian. It was picked up by Li Xianze in a bedroom when he was searching for the Maxim heavy machine gun in the Lihe Foreign Company. Teng Yuzhao estimated that this should be the personal property of little Christian or his son Alwin. However, at the critical moment when his life was at stake, the owner of this somewhat heavy camera had to give up.

Wei Jinghai, the staff officers, the soldiers of the guard squad, and four heavy machine gunners from the regiment also each found a place to sit on the ammunition boxes and rest against the fortress wall made of logs.

(End of this chapter)